Terms of Service

For the use of the SpeakSpeak communication platform.

§ 1 Provider, scope

1. These terms govern the use of the communication platform SpeakSpeak (web app, desktop and mobile apps, and associated services), operated by Andreas Mayer, Speakspeak.net, c/o MDC#1028, Welserstraße 3, 87463 Dietmannsried, Germany (the "provider", "we").
2. Any deviating terms of the user do not apply.
3. The service is aimed at consumers.

§ 2 Description of the service; beta phase

1. SpeakSpeak enables communication in communities ("servers") with text, forum, voice and video channels, direct messages (including groups), file attachments, voice messages, reactions, custom emoji, soundboards and further features. The service is hosted and operated exclusively by the provider.
2. Closed beta: The service is currently in a closed testing phase. Registration is only possible with a serial number issued by the provider. During the beta phase, features may change, restrictions and interruptions may occur, and data may be reset or deleted after prior announcement. There is no entitlement to uninterrupted availability during the beta phase. When the beta phase ends, existing accounts and content will remain and carry over into regular operation; there will be no reset at the end of the beta phase.
3. Use is currently free of charge. The provider reserves the right to introduce paid account tiers in the future; paid services will only be offered with the user's separate consent and on the basis of terms supplemented at that time (prices, payment, cancellation and withdrawal rights).

§ 3 Registration and account

1. A user account is required to use the service. You must provide a valid email address, a username, a password and your date of birth; during the beta phase, additionally a valid serial number.
2. Registration requires that the person has reached the age of 16. To verify this, the date of birth is requested during registration. If the provider learns that an account is held by a person under 16, the provider is entitled to suspend and close the account.
3. The user warrants that the information provided is accurate and will keep it up to date.
4. Login credentials must be kept secret. The user is responsible for activity on their account to the extent they are at fault for it. If misuse of the account is suspected, the provider must be informed without delay.
5. There is no entitlement to registration. One account per person is permitted.

§ 4 Acceptable use; prohibited content and conduct

1. The user agrees to use the service only within the bounds of applicable law and these terms.
2. In particular, it is prohibited to create, upload or distribute content through the service that
   • is unlawful, in particular child sexual abuse material, incitement to hatred, glorification of violence, or terrorist content;
   • infringes the rights of third parties (copyright, trademark, personality or other rights);
   • is insulting, threatening, harassing or otherwise directed against other users (including stalking and doxxing);
   • contains or spreads malware;
   • constitutes unsolicited advertising, spam or fraudulent content (e.g. phishing).
3. Also prohibited: circumventing technical protection measures; automated bulk retrieval (scraping) without permission; attacks on the availability or integrity of the service; passing on or selling serial numbers without the provider's consent; impersonating another person.
4. Community administrators are additionally required to exercise reasonable moderation in the communities they manage.
5. Anyone operating a bot or other automated application through the service's interfaces must operate it exclusively under the bot identity provided for that purpose. The service marks such accounts technically; this marking must not be circumvented, disguised or imitated. If the operator uses artificial intelligence to generate content, they are additionally required to disclose this to the users the bot interacts with (Art. 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 – the AI Act).

§ 5 Rights in content

1. Content created or uploaded by the user remains the property of the user or the respective rights holders. The provider claims no ownership of user content.
2. The user grants the provider the non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free rights of use in their content that are technically necessary to operate the service, in particular for storage, reproduction, technical conversion (e.g. thumbnails, transcoding, metadata removal) and delivery to the recipients the user has chosen (community members, DM recipients). No use beyond this (e.g. advertising) takes place.
3. The user warrants that they hold the rights required to grant the licence under paragraph 2.
4. The grant of rights ends when the content in question is finally deleted, and continues only to the extent that further storage is required by law or permitted under § 7 (4) (retention for moderation and evidence purposes).

§ 6 Moderation, reporting content, suspension

1. Users can report content and users through the functions provided for this purpose. The provider reviews reports and takes appropriate measures.
2. In the event of violations of § 4 or of statutory provisions, the provider is entitled to take appropriate measures, in particular: removing or blocking individual content, issuing a warning, temporarily restricting features, or temporarily or permanently suspending the account. The severity and frequency of the violation and the degree of fault are taken into account when choosing the measure.
3. The provider uses automated procedures: uploaded files are automatically checked for malware before being made available; files detected as malicious are not made available (details in the privacy policy, section 2.5). A planned procedure, currently not in use, is an automated comparison of uploaded files against hash values of known unlawful content, in particular child sexual abuse material (CSAM); the privacy policy (section 2.5) will be updated before it is activated. If the comparison produces a match once activated, the content concerned is blocked and, where required by law, reported to the competent bodies; even then, measures under paragraph 2 are not taken solely on an automated basis. When reviewing reports, the reviewing persons may be shown an automatically generated summary of the reported content, labelled as AI-generated; it serves only to support the review, and the reported content itself is always displayed in the original. Measures under paragraph 2 are never taken solely on an automated basis; in every case, a human decides on them.
4. The user will be informed of measures, with reasons, and given the opportunity to respond, unless legal obligations or the risk of significant harm prevent this.
5. The provider's statutory reporting and cooperation duties (e.g. towards law enforcement authorities) remain unaffected.

§ 7 Deletion of content; retention

1. The user can delete and edit their own content through the functions provided for this purpose.
2. Deleted content becomes invisible to other users; edited content is displayed in its current version.
3. For reasons of moderation, abuse investigation and statutory retention duties, deleted content and earlier edit versions are not immediately and finally removed, but are first retained internally ("soft delete", versioning) and only finally deleted after the periods stated in the privacy policy have expired.
4. Details of data processing, retention periods and the user's rights are set out in the privacy policy.

§ 8 Availability

1. The provider strives for high availability of the service but, during the free beta phase, does not owe any particular level of availability.
2. Maintenance, further development, disruptions at subcontractors and events of force majeure may lead to temporary restrictions. Longer planned maintenance will be announced in advance where possible.

§ 9 Liability

1. The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for harm to life, body or health, and under the German Product Liability Act.
2. In cases of ordinary negligence, the provider is liable only for the breach of essential contractual obligations (obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance the user may regularly rely), limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this kind of contract.
3. Any further liability is excluded.
4. Each user is responsible for the content they create or upload. The provider does not adopt user content as its own; the provider's statutory responsibilities as a hosting service remain unaffected.
5. The user is responsible for backing up their own important data outside the service, unless the provider has expressly promised a backup.

§ 10 Changes to these terms

1. The provider may change these terms with effect for the future where this is necessary due to changes in the law, decisions of the highest courts, technical developments or further development of the service, and where the change does not unreasonably disadvantage the user.
2. Changes will be communicated to the user in text form (e.g. by email or in-app notice) at least 6 weeks before they take effect. If the user does not object within that period, or continues to use the service after the changes take effect, the changed terms are deemed accepted; the notice will point this out separately. If the user objects, either party may end the user relationship.

§ 11 Term, termination, account deletion

1. The user relationship runs for an indefinite period.
2. The user may end the user relationship at any time without notice by deleting their account in the settings or by requesting deletion by email to contact@speakspeak.net.
3. The provider may terminate the user relationship in text form with 2 weeks' notice. The right to terminate without notice for good cause, in particular in the event of serious or repeated violations of § 4, remains unaffected; § 6 applies accordingly.
4. After termination, the account is deactivated and deleted in accordance with the privacy policy. Content the user has published in communities may be retained in anonymised form in accordance with the privacy policy.

§ 12 Final provisions

1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection of mandatory provisions of the law of the state of their habitual residence.
2. If the user is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is the provider's registered seat. For consumers, the statutory places of jurisdiction apply.
3. Should individual provisions of these terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.
4. Notice under the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (VSBG): The provider is neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
5. The language of the contract is German. Translations of these terms into other languages are provided for information only; only the German version at speakspeak.net/agb is legally binding.

Last updated: 18 August 2026 (German original)